


Defuse

by Cai (Zanya)



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Gen, Scars, Slice of Life, Some Humor
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-05
Updated: 2015-01-05
Packaged: 2018-02-28 06:25:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,338
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2722049
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zanya/pseuds/Cai
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In the sweltering heat of the swamp, Sokka takes it upon himself to get Zuko to cool down whether the prince wants to or not.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Defuse

**Author's Note:**

  * For [fadedlullabyes](https://archiveofourown.org/users/fadedlullabyes/gifts).



> repost from y!Gallery. prompt request.

Sokka pulled off his shirt and pants, shimming down to his underwear before wading into the cool water. He would have forgone undressing and dived right in except the stink of swamp would permeate his clothes for weeks if he did that. And he also couldn’t resist the cool feel of the water against his bare skin. 

Glancing back, he noticed that Zuko stood on the edge of the swamp with a thoughtful look on his face. There were no signs that he planned on getting in and joining Sokka. With the sweltering heat they both needed to cool down. It would still be two whole days worth of travel to Ba Sing Se. 

“If you stand there all day, you’ll pass out from the heat,” Sokka called out, cupping his hands over his mouth. 

He had seen in many times before since his enrollment in his father’s brigade. Some of the men would refuse cool water when they had the chance either to sleep or nap only to pass out an hour later when they broke camp and started walking. The heat sucked the energy out of people, but often by the time it was too late, it hit them like a large earth slab. 

Of course, Zuko might be more used to the heat than most people from the Southern Water Tribe, but today was particularly brutal. If Sokka had to guess, he’d say the temperatures had reached well above ninety degrees. Even for Fire Nation, that was too hot. 

“Come on!” Sokka sing-songed. Then his smile vanished when Zuko just stood there, frowning. “Are you ignoring me? That doesn’t seem very diplomatic of you.”

Sokka grinned when Zuko scowled. He could never resist the chance to tease the young Lord. He had never seen someone so young scowl quite so much. Even Toph had a sense of humor through all her smarmy sarcasm. But Zuko, now he was a tough nut to crack and Sokka delighted in taking every opportunity to do so. 

Finally Zuko grunted, pulled off his boots and socks, slid off his pants, and waded in after him. He must have realized it’d be foolish not to cool his body down while they had the chance. Once he moved in several feet from the shore, he stopped and stood there, not bothering to go in deeper like Sokka had. 

“You should take off your shirt. It’ll stink forever if you don’t.” Sokka moved further into the swamp until only his head and neck were above the water. “That smell won’t come out with a few quick washes.”

Zuko stayed in place so that he was only waist deep in the water. “No thanks. This will be enough.”

Sokka shrugged, forcing the water to come up a couple inches below his mouth. “If you pass out on the road, I’m going to leave you there.”

“Fine, whatever,” Zuko shot back, his face turning red from irritation. “If I pass out, feel free to leave me behind.”

Splashing the water a few times, Sokka frowned and waded in closer to Zuko. “What the hell is your problem anyway?”

“I could ask you the same. I’m in the water so what more do you want?” Zuko asked in a biting tone. He pinned Sokka down with his gaze and narrowed his eyes. “I don’t see how it’s any of your business whether or not I take my shirt off.”

“Hey, lighten up.” Sokka shrugged it off. Zuko always had something to crab about regardless if someone was joking or being serious. This was no different. “There’s no need to be crabby about it. I’m not really going to leave you behind.”

“Just drop it.” Zuko moved a little closer to Sokka until the water came precariously close to touching the hem of his shirt. “I’m fine right here where I’m at, with my shirt on.”

Perhaps Sokka’s idea formed because he felt like they were fighting a battle of the wills or he had only wanted to prove to Zuko that he should lighten up. But Sokka took the chance when Zuko turned his back to reach out, grab his shirt, and pull it over his head. 

Zuko sputtered once and flailed against Sokka, dragging both of them underwater for a moment before they could get their bearings and break the surface of the water for air. Zuko pinned his eyes on Sokka and glared. “What the—”

Sokka shook the dirty swamp water out of his hair, his right arm still poised in the air in an attempt to save Zuko’s shirt from getting wet. Oddly enough, it seemed to have worked. The shirt had stayed bone-dry despite their struggle. When he focused his eyes straight ahead, they settled on Zuko, who looked like he wanted to strangle Sokka. Both of their chests heaved from catching their breath. 

Neither of them said anything. Sokka had come close, twice, but each time he opened his mouth, Zuko would shoot him another dirty look. And unlike the usual sourness of it, this time it looked so serious that it left Sokka temporarily speechless. 

Then Sokka noticed a scar across Zuko’s stomach to his side. It curled around and looked like it probably covered some of his back, but Sokka couldn’t be sure from the angle he was looking at. It was gnarled and deep red like the one on his face. From the look of the scar tissue, he was fairly certain a burn had caused it. Probably a fire bender, which seemed like one more reason to be suspicious of bending. While he could appreciate of its benefits, bending allowed the wrong people to have too much power at their disposal. 

An awkward silence passed over them. It only made the urge to fix it even greater. Sokka knew he could sometimes go overboard and take things one step further than needed. But when he got caught up in the moment, there was little he could do to stop himself until after the fact. Figuring out how other people felt normally came natural to him, but sometimes Sokka floundered with how to react in certain situations, especially ones this serious that didn’t have a simple solution. 

Clearing his throat, Sokka pushed aside his guilt and decided to dive right in and ask. “Who did that to you?”

“Azula.” Zuko simply stated like it explained everything, and if Sokka were to be completely honest with himself, it kind of did. 

Sokka thought back and couldn’t think of a time since Zuko had joined their group that Azula had done so much damage. It must have happened before. There were so many things in Zuko’s life that none of them knew about, and considering all they had been through, Sokka knew it really didn’t compare. The Royal family of the Fire Nation was as dysfunctional as they came. 

Not knowing how to respond, Sokka shrugged and tried to lighten the mood. “It's not so bad. I can barely see it from where I'm standing.”

Zuko had an incredulous look on his face for a moment before sighing. “You're a terrible liar.” 

“Yeah, well... I'm good at other stuff so it's all good.” Sokka grinned and shrugged his shoulders, still keeping the shirt above water. 

“Like what?” Zuko quietly asked. 

“I kept your shirt from getting any nasty swamp water on it,” Sokka said with a merit of pride in his voice. “That's important because, you know, you don't want to walk into Ba Sing Se smelling like a swamp rat. That would look bad if the future Fire Lord.” 

Zuko snorted and rolled his eyes but the grumpy scowl was gone at least. “That hardly counts.” 

Sokka tossed Zuko his shirt, smiled, and turned around. Sinking back down into the water, he hid his smirk. Even though Zuko acted annoyed—and probably was—at least the awkwardness had went away, and they were back to their usual bickering. That would at least carry them to Ba Sing Se.


End file.
